Recently a member of ABSLTA (Association of British Sign Language Teachers and Assessors) contacted ABSLTA to raise concerns about a new paid-for BSL Level 1 on-line course.
Unfortunately, it turns out that all was not as it seemed on this course.
To watch this programme in BSL, click play below or scroll down the page to carry on in English.
After further investigation, it appeared that the course provider has been set up by an unregistered lady without any recognised BSL training, qualification or accreditation. Nor has she/he worked with deaf people in the past.
These are dark times for genuine BSL Teachers and their students too.
So, what is going on here?
Genuinely qualified and Registered BSL Teachers have so much to offer. They are able to:
• Enable hearing people to engage deaf people
• Teach British Sign Language, as a language
• Share the richness of deaf culture and history
• Create an understanding of how deaf people live
• Work effectively with deaf people, and develop friendships
Yet speaking from experience as a BSL Teacher at three colleges, I was always the last to know what was happening at the college, as I cannot hear. I had to be assertive to get the facts.
Now many of our courses have have been cut – without consultation – by local authorities to save money. Teachers forced out of jobs. A few are lucky to hold onto possibly only job they have for life. This is part of the government’s austerity cuts.
This has created a vacuum that is leading to an increase of unqualified spammers who see an opportunity to sell BSL courses using word-of-mouth among people, friends and families.
These people tell people that they are helping deaf people. It is a very easy thing to do. They may befriend one or two deaf people and then claim that these deaf ‘friends’ are supportive of their business. Really?
How can we move forwards from here? We need:
• Funding to protect BSL Teachers and courses
• A national accreditation and registration scheme for BSL tutors
• Only qualified BSL Teachers to deliver online learning courses and apps with approved resources
• Raise awareness among potential future BSL students to check if a course is genuine.
There are BSL resources available waiting to be further developed and provided for all. We just need funding to make all this happen.
By Caroline Hurley
Executive support member of ABSLTA
If you would like to know more about the Association of British Sign Language Teachers and Assessors (ABSLTA) please visit www.abslta.org.uk
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Mike Fahey
January 29, 2018
I believe BSL should be taught free of charge any which way you look at it. Either the Government should fund it or it should be taught in early years school.
Jeff Brattan-Wilson
January 29, 2018
This is why I recommend people to have a look st Signworld Learn (www.signworldlearn.com) as they are genuine company. Too many online courses out there are not a good quality.
Lindsay Foster
January 29, 2018
As executive director of Signature, my biggest concern about unqualified teachers offering non-accredited courses is that students are signing up and not quite understanding what they will receive; it’s often incorrect and poor quality BSL training. We regularly see students wanting to study our accredited Level 2 and 3 qualifications following these courses, only to find that they don’t have the skills or experience required to progress. It’s disappointing for these students, and can put them off studying BSL.
A majority of our teachers are Deaf BSL users, and those that aren’t have studied BSL to a high level and are passionate about the language. Accredited courses with qualified teachers are more expensive, but absolutely essential for better communication. Our qualifications are designed to encourage students studying our Level 1 in BSL to go on to study at Level 3-6 – which many of them do, becoming interpreters, translators, communication support workers and BSL teachers themselves. Can the same be said for these cheaper and unaccredited courses?
Erssie Major
January 30, 2018
As a hearing person who learned BSL from State 1 to Stage 3, it was really important to me to be taught by v a fully qualified team of Deaf teachers who not only gave a fully structured course but a massive insight into the richness of Deaf culture. I loved the language so much they gave me huge opportunities beyond the classroom and a chance to make signing my career as a learning support sign language communicator in a Deaf school. I can’t imagine having I earned what I did purely online and a, saddened to hear unqualified people doing it. If taught in the wrong way, BSL is wrongly assumed to be a visual coded for of English without any complex structure E. G. Multichannel Signs. I learned the language under the CACDP many tears ago. I did try and investigate refresher courses in my area of London because I had to give up work for medical reasons and I have developed a hand disability and don’t want to lose the ability to Sign. only to find out there were none available so access to evening courses has reduced drastically since I did my exams in the late 90s. I was directed by one college to try and find an online course. Although I can see online study being OK to supplement learning it just isnt the same as being in a classroom environment. You can learn from other students and get more of a feel for real life use of BSL in the community. My Deaf BSL instructer explained history, took us to Deaf clubs and the theatre and introduced me to people who became friends and colleagues. That wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t had a properly structured course. As a heating person I was happy to pay fees do that my instructor could be paid a decent amount and be valued as a college lecturer with a steady career. I was convinced that these lessons still went on in my Borough and was hopeful it had expanded but that was mot the case. To hear there are fake courses online is not good, Many people like myself go on to work with young Deaf children or adults in secondary or tertiary education. That is a huge responsibility and I’d hate to think anybody with a fake course just learns a list of signs without Deaf History, Culture and Politics to back it up. If a Deaf person receives an education in mainstream hearing environments a poor communicator can so easily misrepresent them or fail to understand the importance of a code of ethics, or giving a Deaf person a voice with their peers and Teachers while their interpreter is impartial but supportive. Those subtleties I learned from my Deaf instructors. .
Erssie Major
January 30, 2018
Moderator, feel free to correct my typing mistakes, I do have a few visual problems these days.